Many Canadians were surprised this weekend when their phones were buzzed by an incoming spam text from an unexpected political source.

The Conservative Party of Canada mass-texted millions of randomly generated phone numbers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick, telling recipients that gasoline prices were about to spike and they should fill up. The texts were meant to drum up political opposition to the Trudeau government’s carbon tax, which came into effect Monday in the four provinces that didn’t come up with carbon pricing plans of their own.

Source: CBC News

Date: April 5th, 209

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/text-spam-andrew-scheer-1.5079957

Discussion

1) “such messages do carry privacy and security risks. There may be ways to opt out of them as well.”  What sort of privacy risks are there here?

2) “such messages do carry privacy and security risks. There may be ways to opt out of them as well.” What sort of security risks are there here?